# What's My Age Again?
**"What's My Age Again?"** is a pop-punk song by the American band blink-182, released in 1999 as the lead single from their third studio album, *[Enema of the State](https://www.edgepedia.org/enema-of-the-state)*[1](https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-blink-182-wrote-their-biggest-ever-hit). Written by bassist and lead vocalist [Mark Hoppus](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-hoppus) with guitarist [Tom DeLonge](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-delonge), it helped move the band from radio-friendly punk to mainstream pop radio, and its line "nobody likes you when you're 23" became one of the most quoted lyrics of the genre[1](https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-blink-182-wrote-their-biggest-ever-hit) • [2](https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/ps/article/download/1866/1673/7354) • [20](https://www.nme.com/news/music/mark-hoppus-green-day-inspired-intro-to-blink-182-whats-my-age-again-2793676).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist and album | blink-182, from *Enema of the State* (released June 1, 1999, MCA Records)[3](https://www.blink182.com/pages/discography) |
| Single release | "What's My Age Again? - Single", April 1, 1999, 3 songs in 10 minutes; the album track is dated April 13, 1999 by Apple Music[4](https://music.apple.com/us/album/whats-my-age-again-single/1774077656) • [5](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1696699363) |
| Songwriters | Mark Hoppus and Tom DeLonge[5](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1696699363) |
| Production | Produced by Jerry Finn; mixed by Tom Lord-Alge; mastered by Brian Gardner[5](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1696699363) |
| Chart performance | US Hot 100 peak of #58 over 20 weeks; #2 on the US alternative chart, #19 US rock, #38 in the UK[6](https://www.musicchartsarchive.com/singles/blink-182/whats-my-age-again) • [7](https://www.rockvf.com/song.php?id=5536) |
| Music video | Directed by Marcos Siega, produced by Shirley Moyers; features Janine Lindemulder as a nurse[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291762/fullcredits/) |
| Legacy | The album it fronts sold over 15 million units worldwide per the IFPI[2](https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/ps/article/download/1866/1673/7354) |
## Song and credits
Mark Hoppus sings lead and plays bass, Tom DeLonge plays guitar and sings background vocals, and [Travis Barker](https://www.edgepedia.org/travis-barker) plays drums; session keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. also appears[5](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1696699363). Hoppus described the song's origin in a 2024 interview about his book: "I started writing as a joke song just for my friends. And then, with Tom and Travis' encouragement, turned it into a real song that I think is a great representation of Blink-182"[9](https://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=nx-s1-5136872). He credited its radio breakthrough to catchiness, energy, and "a funny video", arriving when listeners were ready for "a little more edge and a little more fun" against the backdrop of late-1990s pop and boy bands[9](https://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=nx-s1-5136872).
The lyrics open with a date that goes wrong and build to the chorus's refusal to "act my age". In the verses Hoppus acknowledges the pressure from friends and an ex-girlfriend to grow up while making the case for staying childish, even while conceding that "nobody likes you when you're 23"[10](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/doublej/music-reads/features/blink-182-enema-of-the-state/103456422). Writing in *Persona Studies*, researchers cited exactly that line when placing the song at the center of blink-182's breakthrough album[2](https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/ps/article/download/1866/1673/7354).
The single was issued with three songs totaling 10 minutes[4](https://music.apple.com/us/album/whats-my-age-again-single/1774077656). The recording personnel list extends beyond the trio to recording engineer Sean O'Dwyer, drum technician Mike Fasano, and assistant engineers Darrell Harvey, John Nelson, and Robert Read[5](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1696699363).
## Album context
*Enema of the State* was recorded at several California studios with producer Jerry Finn, whose prior credits included [Bad Religion](https://www.edgepedia.org/bad-religion), Green Day, and [The Offspring](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-offspring), and it was the band's first album with Finn[3](https://www.blink182.com/pages/discography) • [10](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/doublej/music-reads/features/blink-182-enema-of-the-state/103456422). Alongside "What's My Age Again?", the songs "All the Small Things" and "Adam's Song" were released as singles, each highly successful[3](https://www.blink182.com/pages/discography). The album peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified five-times platinum by the RIAA[11](https://www.grammy.com/artists/blink-182/20104/).
Commentary has repeatedly returned to the song's mixture of immaturity and anxiety. A *Double J* retrospective described *Enema of the State* as showing the band's vulnerability as well as its juvenile surface, with the album cover (adult-film performer [Janine Lindemulder](https://www.edgepedia.org/janine-lindemulder) in a nurse's outfit) signaling "the usual shenanigans" while the music under Finn leveled up in arrangement and production[10](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/doublej/music-reads/features/blink-182-enema-of-the-state/103456422). A *History Of Music* essay framed the song as a cultural marker that cemented blink-182's reputation as "the clown princes of pop-punk" while hinting at deeper anxieties about maturity, responsibility, and identity[12](https://historyofmusic.net/1990s/blink-182-and-the-eternal-youth-of-whats-my-age-again/).
## Music video
The video was directed by Marcos Siega, who also later directed the video for "All the Small Things" era output for the band, and produced by Shirley Moyers[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291762/fullcredits/). Janine Lindemulder, the same performer shown on the album cover, appears as a nurse[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291762/fullcredits/) • [10](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/doublej/music-reads/features/blink-182-enema-of-the-state/103456422). The band members run naked through city streets, a premise that led Hoppus to say the video "cemented Blink's status as the naked band"[9](https://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=nx-s1-5136872). A fan-made recreation set in the video game *Grand Theft Auto V* was covered by *Rolling Stone Italia* in 2015, a measure of the video's lasting recognizability[13](https://www.rollingstone.it/musica/news-musica/whats-my-age-again-dei-blink-182-in-versione-gta-v/284357/). The video was nominated for Best Modern Rock Video at the 1999 Billboard Music Video Awards, sharing the nomination with Siega and Moyers[14](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1485933/awards/). An official "Edited" music video is listed on the band's Apple Music releases[5](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1696699363).
## Chart performance
On the US Billboard Hot 100 the single entered in July 1999 and climbed slowly to a peak of #58 on the chart dated October 23, 1999, spending 20 weeks on the chart[6](https://www.musicchartsarchive.com/singles/blink-182/whats-my-age-again). Its strongest radio formats were alternative and rock radio, where it reached #2 and #19 respectively; it reached #38 in the UK[7](https://www.rockvf.com/song.php?id=5536). In a *Billboard* airplay snapshot of October 16, 1999, the song sat at #5 on the Modern Rock Tracks listing while "All the Small Things" debuted as the issue's hot shot debut[15](https://manuals.plus/m/e3ded9c9a40e9d9080aa99cf5512b411efa4d095a18095ace78c0e5c3f2c2e86.pdf). Radio research in August 1999 showed the song testing strongly: among 400 women aged 12 to 34 surveyed by *Radio & Radio*'s Callout America, it scored a total favorability of 57.7 percent, with the women 18 to 24 segment its strongest[16](https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Archive-RandR/1990s/1999/RR-1999-08-20.pdf).
Louder's history of the album places the song as "doing the leg work" for the commercial leap that "All the Small Things", the follow-up single, completed as the band's biggest-ever hit[1](https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-blink-182-wrote-their-biggest-ever-hit).
## Later life
The song has stayed in rotation. At blink-182's 2023 return to Madrid, *El País* reported that "What's My Age Again?" and "All the Small Things" played "with an imposing aura of classics", and that the self-pitying line about being 23 sounded credible from people on stage and off who were nowhere near 23[17](https://elpais.com/cultura/2023-10-04/blink-182-emociona-en-su-ansiado-regreso-a-madrid.html). The band's own store lists the song among the singles of *Enema of the State*, which remains in print on vinyl[3](https://www.blink182.com/pages/discography).
A 2019 release gave the song a hip-hop crossover: "What's My Age Again?/ A Milli - [Single](https://www.edgepedia.org/single-music)", a single-song release credited to blink-182 and [Lil Wayne](https://www.edgepedia.org/lil-wayne), issued August 23, 2019 under Viking Wizard Eyes with exclusive license to [Columbia Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-records)[18](https://music.apple.com/us/album/whats-my-age-again-a-milli-single/1477275588). The recording carries the ISRC USSM11905486[19](https://isrc.fm/isrc/USSM11905486).
## References
1. ["We have a lot of cool songs in Blink, it's weird to me that's the one!": Blink-182 on the making of their biggest ever hit, Louder](https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-blink-182-wrote-their-biggest-ever-hit)
2. ["What's My Age Again?" and the Enema of the State album in Persona Studies 2024, vol. 10, no. 1, Deakin University](https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/ps/article/download/1866/1673/7354)
3. [Discography, blink-182 Official Store](https://www.blink182.com/pages/discography)
4. [What's My Age Again? - Single, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/whats-my-age-again-single/1774077656)
5. [What's My Age Again? - Song, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1696699363)
6. ["What's My Age Again?" chart history, Music Charts Archive](https://www.musicchartsarchive.com/singles/blink-182/whats-my-age-again)
7. [What's My Age Again? (song by Blink-182), Rock VF](https://www.rockvf.com/song.php?id=5536)
8. [Blink-182: What's My Age Again (Music Video 1999) full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291762/fullcredits/)
9. [In his new book, Mark Hoppus talks about the sense of loss when Blink-182 broke up, Capital Public Radio (NPR)](https://www.capradio.org/news/npr/story?storyid=nx-s1-5136872)
10. [Blink-182 showed both vulnerability and immaturity on Enema of the State, Double J (ABC)](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/doublej/music-reads/features/blink-182-enema-of-the-state/103456422)
11. [Blink-182 Grammy Awards and Nominations, Recording Academy](https://www.grammy.com/artists/blink-182/20104/)
12. [Blink-182 and the Eternal Youth of "What's My Age Again?", History Of Music](https://historyofmusic.net/1990s/blink-182-and-the-eternal-youth-of-whats-my-age-again/)
13. ["What's my age again?" dei Blink 182 in versione GTA, Rolling Stone Italia](https://www.rollingstone.it/musica/news-musica/whats-my-age-again-dei-blink-182-in-versione-gta-v/284357/)
14. [Blink-182 Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1485933/awards/)
15. [Billboard, October 16, 1999 issue (chart listings)](https://manuals.plus/m/e3ded9c9a40e9d9080aa99cf5512b411efa4d095a18095ace78c0e5c3f2c2e86.pdf)
16. [Radio & Records, August 20, 1999 (Callout America survey)](https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Archive-RandR/1990s/1999/RR-1999-08-20.pdf)
17. [Blink-182 emociona en su ansiado regreso a Madrid, El País](https://elpais.com/cultura/2023-10-04/blink-182-emociona-en-su-ansiado-regreso-a-madrid.html)
18. [What's My Age Again?/ A Milli - Single, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/whats-my-age-again-a-milli-single/1477275588)
19. [USSM11905486 - What's My Age Again? / A Milli, Credits.fm ISRC database](https://isrc.fm/isrc/USSM11905486)
20. [Mark Hoppus confirms Green Day inspired the intro to Blink-182's 'What's My Age Again?'](https://www.nme.com/news/music/mark-hoppus-green-day-inspired-intro-to-blink-182-whats-my-age-again-2793676)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › Punk rock songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license